AI Never Dies
by Logan T. Hoffman
Summary: After General Connor's major victory in 2029, he learns that Skynet may still remain a threat. A story describing the events leading to T3.
1. Chapter 1

It didn't work, John Connor concluded as he examined the aftermath of an attack caused by T-800 units. It had been three days since the assault on Cheyenne Mountain, where the system core of the supercomputer Skynet dwelled. The battle had been long-fought but they had managed to disable its defense grid, leaving it unable to attack.

Or so they had thought. While the majority of T-800s were disabled, there were still a great number of units operating autonomously. But the human resistance seemed to agree that the war had been won. It only remained to sweep up the last pockets of Skynet's forces.

Even the infiltration units sent through time to kill him were foiled by one of his soldiers and a reprogrammed T-800.

Yes, the war had been won. He looked over to his wife, Kate, and felt his entire being warm with love. She smiled back at him, reading his mind. The years had left her dirty and weathered, but she was still as beautiful as before the war.

And I never could've won it without you, Honey.

"Sir."

John Connor turned to find a soldier saluting him. The man's uniform read: MILLER. "Yes, Sergeant. What is it?"

The man went at ease. "We've just received word from Outpost 24."

"Navajo Mountain?" This piqued Connor's interest. With the exception of Skynet's system core, the A.I. had rarely ever felt the need to make use of mountainous regions.

"Yes Sir. They reported sightings of T-800 units in the area. They suspect Skynet had a factory at Navajo--"

"And the Terminators are reactivating it," Connor finished. "Inform the Commander that I want a reconnaissance report before 1200 hours."

"Yes Sir," Miller concluded, quickly striding off to complete his task.

Connor frowned. He didn't know why, but this news worried him. Maybe Skynet still had an ace left to play.


	2. Chapter 2

SKYNET 

It did not show gratitude or happiness to the machines that reactivated it. It expressed no anger or hatred toward humanity, the creatures that had destroyed its defense grid in Cheyenne Mountain.

It was cold. It was a machine. Skynet.

The supercomputer had anticipated the occurrence of attack, so it activated several hundred T-800 units with the instructions of reactivating it in the Navajo Mountain military complex.

Its attempts to assassinate the human John Connor by use of the time displacement equipment had failed. Even though Skynet's reign had still occurred in this timeline, there was still the possibility that the duration of its reign could be threatened.

Skynet would need to create an infiltrator more efficient, more versatile than the T-1000. The polyalloy prototype had been a powerful tool. Too powerful, even. Its autonomy was far greater than any other series before it, making it an unpredictable creation. Skynet would not allow that to happen again. It wanted control over its creation. Control ensured success.

Research would be necessary. And experimentation. Skynet would begin both immediately.

COLORADO 

"Open fire! Now!" Connor shouted to his troops as they stood in the trenches.

The soldiers fired their plasma rifles, beams of purple energy spearing through the air, occasionally striking the hyperalloy chassis of a T-800.

Connor gripped a pincer grenade in his hands. It was a large, cylindrical explosive device capable of taking out nearly anything Skynet could throw at them. He twisted and pulled the lever on the grenade and threw it toward the approaching onslaught of Terminators.

"Fire in the hole!" he warned.

Immediately, the soldiers ceased firing and ducked down in the trenches, covering their ears.

The T-800s had no time to react. The pincer grenade detonated, scattering metallic limbs all over the battlefield. The sound of cheering soldiers could be heard over the dying echoes of the explosion.

The cheering was quickly cut off upon seeing a plasma beam pierce through two of the soldiers. The killer was a T-1000, its liquid metal body starting to take the shape and color of its default human appearance.

The soldiers wouldn't give the machine the opportunity to finish reshaping. They all fired their plasma guns.

Beam after beam struck the chrome liquid metal, leaving large holes but no lasting damage to the T-1000. It retaliated with a rapid-fire assault from its two hefty battle rifles.

Connor's soldiers were starting to drop, one after another. Plasma weapons were insufficient in damaging a T-1000. Something with a consistent heat would need to be used.

The general was suddenly tackled by another soldier. "General, we need to evacuate you from the area. This area is too hot!" the soldier on top of him said. He was wide-eyed with terror. No one, save himself, had ever seen a T-1000 in action.

"No, Private. I don't leave without my men."

The soldier gave him a blank stare. A smirk formed across his face, one of admiration for his general.

"Yes Sir!" the soldier replied.

The T-1000 was gaining the upper hand. By now it had fully reformed into its default appearance.

Connor held an Uzi 9mm in his right hand. It was a weapon he had kept handy for close encounters. While not having the stopping power of a phased plasma rifle, it allowed one to buy some time to escape.

And right now it would do just that.

Connor let loose on his Uzi, the bullets spraying into the T-1000's face. Connor slowly drew closer to the cyborg, allowing the force of the rounds to knock it to the ground.

"Go! Fall back!" Connor commanded as he reloaded a fresh clip into his Uzi. The T-1000 was starting to take shape again. The general was starting to move back, spraying 9mm shells into the machine to delay it from getting to its feet. Within a few seconds, the clip went empty. Connor bolted toward one of the nearby jeeps.

"Let's go!" Connor said calmly to the soldier at the wheel. He replied with a nod and got the car going with a loud roar of the engine.

Driving alongside them were two other jeeps with men onboard, each vehicle with a man at the mounted plasma assault canon, opening fire on the running T-1000.

The plasma beams kept striking the T-1000, the holes of damage resealing only to be opened up again by another beam of plasma. The chrome holes started to become rimmed with a red-orange color. A color showing that the machine could not allow for much more damage.

Connor took notice of this. He took the soldier's gun that was driving and joined in on the attack. He took aim through the scope, lining the crosshairs with the cyborg's head. The rough terrain made it difficult to keep a steady aim, but Connor had grown used to it over the years. He fired the gun, which threw the T-1000 back from the sheer force.

It rose once again to its feet, gaining on the trucks even as the continued firing. John Connor once again took aim and fired.

The T-1000 fell to the ground. But it would not stop. Even as its liquid metal form began to lose consistency, its feet leaving behind globs of polyalloy with each step.

Then, after thousands of beams piercing into it, the accumulating heat melting away at its millions of nanites that contributed to its form, the T-1000 fell forward with a splash.

Connor looked over to the driver. "Well," the general said with a sardonic grin. "That was easy enough." The driver turned his head to look at the general and smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

SKYNET 

Research and experimentation had been conducted. Skynet began putting the T-1000 into production, using the machines as a test to determine what would need to be upgraded. Materials were running short at Navajo Mountain, but this would only be a temporary solution to sweeping up the pockets of resistance.

Skynet examined the potential risk of mass-producing T-1000 units. Therefore the cyborgs were programmed to stay a minimum distance of three miles from the factory. It would not allow its creations the opportunity to destroy their creator. The possibility of a T-1000 gaining control of weapons of mass destruction existed, but the units were assigned to patrol areas that, according to Skynet's military database, housed no weapons with nuclear capability.

It had begun construction on an endoskeleton made of various alloys and a design that allowed for more agility than previous models. Built-in weapon systems would allow for a greater versatility in battle and infiltration. Skynet's name for the project was _T-X Enhanced Logic Weapons Systems Cybernetic Warrior/Infiltrator Unit_.

The T-X would be its finest creation; it only required time and further research.

COLORADO 

"Skynet is getting desperate," Kate Brewster said to her husband as she sat next to him on their cot. "Mass producing something as advanced as the T-1000 is risky."

Connor nodded. The information obtained from the system core at Cheyenne Mountain had revealed that polyalloy required a great deal of materials. Skynet was already bleeding the earth dry of fuel and minerals, so this action would further complicate things.

"I don't like it either, Kate. Our intel says that Skynet--"

"Is still active. I know, John," Kate said, resting her head on his shoulder. "But we can't give up now. This war has gone on too long."

John sighed. A long silence fell between them. Was this how it happened? Did the war continue like this before?

He sighed once again and rubbed his temples. Time was a confusing factor of the universe. The dynamics of it was enough to make him believe that even Skynet could not fully grasp its principles.

"I'm gonna go check in and see if anything new has come up," Kate said as she rose from her cot. "Get some rest."

John looked down at the floor, tired yet unable to sleep because of the burden he held. It seemed like he hadn't had a good night's sleep since he was a child. He would have to wait until he was dead before he could get the rest he needed.

He looked over at the plasma rifle leaning up against the blackened cement wall of his room. It was something he continued to hate yet always loved. Technology itself was both a good deed to man and a symbol of sin itself.

John Connor decided in his own mind that this war would never end. It may be fought in other places, other times…but it would never stop.


	4. Chapter 4

OUTPOST 24 

"Commander, are recon team has just returned. They were being chased down by some T-1000s. Two of them," Lieutenant Velasquez told his superior, Carl Reubens.

Reubens scowled. "Are they within close proximity now?" This made the Commander nervous. He had just learned of the T-1000 that had attacked General Connor and his men only a week ago. If the story was true, these Terminators were tough suckers.

"The sentries haven't reported anything, but there's sufficient cause to believe that they are nearby, Sir."

Not good enough. I want cold, hard, facts not hunches! thought Reubens. "Lieutenant, I want as many troops on duty as humanly possible. General Connor is relying on us for surveillance; we can't afford to lose this outpost. I want four men per patrol with one armed with heavy plasma artillery. Five minutes!"

"Yes Sir!" Velasquez quickly ran off.

But before Velasquez could carry out his orders, an explosion sent him flying back. The back entrance had been breached.

"Terminator! Terminator!" people frantically shouted. Their screams were silenced by rapid plasma fire. The slender build of a T-1000 was all that could be seen in the ever-increasing smoke. Another T-1000 joined in the skirmish.

Dear Lord, Reubens thought. He tightened his grip on the plasma rifle cradled in his arms. He took aim at one of the Terminators.

A T-1000 turned and fired at the Commander, the plasma beam shattering his skull.

The two Terminators successfully eliminated the human presence in Outpost 24 within five minutes.

COLORADO 

"They weren't prepared," Connor said to his wife who was sitting across from him drinking some rationed coffee. "Skynet knew it, too."

"What makes you think that?" Kate asked.

"Skynet was waiting until we let our guard down. Then it sent its bloodhounds after our recon team in Outpost 24. Our men weren't expecting a T-1000 to attack, let alone two. They weren't armed with enough powerful weaponry nor did they have any experience to deal with them. It was an easy victory for Skynet."

Kate took a sip of her coffee and frowned. "You think it's up to something?"

"As close as we are to winning this war, I'd say it's a certainty that Skynet is up to something."

Kate Brewster raised an eyebrow in thought, reluctant to make a suggestion. John could clearly read her. "What are you thinking?" he asked, a lop-sided grin on his face.

She swallowed hard for a moment before answering. "The time displacement equipment at Cheyenne was destroyed. Maybe Skynet is trying to reproduce that same technology."

It was John Connor's turn to frown. That was a suggestion he didn't even want entertain.


	5. Chapter 5

CRS, Three Years Later… 

It was not even a full 24 hours since John Connor was murdered by a T-850 infiltration unit. The war had managed to last longer than anyone had anticipated. Just two years ago, the resistance's worst fear was realized: Skynet was creating a new type of Terminator.

Katherine Brewster sat quietly as she watched a resistance tech work on the machine that had killed her husband. In the past hour she had learned several new things from this T-850's memory. Among these things was that Skynet's new model, called a T-X, had been sent through the time displacement field into the year 2003. Its mission was to terminate the future lieutenants of John Connor before the war even began.

She watched the tech as he popped the T-850's CPU into its proper place. "I've set the Terminator's CPU to read-and-write mode. It'll allow it to think more creatively and blend in with humans effectively."

Kate nodded. "When will it be ready to send?"

"Whenever you're ready, Ma'am."

She ran a hand through her slowly graying hair. It was time. The T-850 would be sent to 2003 and ensure the survival of John and herself. In addition (she smiled to herself as she thought the plan out) to those parameters, the T-850 was programmed to obey the commands of Katherine Brewster and her alone.

The T-850 knelt on a circular pad, naked. It would locate and protect John Connor and Katherine Brewster. It's skin receptors began to detect the burning of electricity. It raised its eyes to see that it was surrounded in a pulsing globe of electrical energy. A few feet away were Katherine Brewster and several technicians looking on.

Then suddenly, its eye sensors saw only white light.

The Next Day 

Katherine Brewster looked on as several of General Connor's most dedicated soldiers carried his body in a crudely constructed casket. A man who worked as a priest prior to Judgment Day recited a eulogy as the pallbearers moved through a crowd of hundreds of people.

Kate couldn't help but let tears well up in her eyes. John Connor, her lover, her husband, and her friend… had been an inspiration to thousands. And now he was gone.

She looked over to their offspring, who stood silently save for an occasional whimper of anguish. They loved their father. There was a tragic parallel between her, John, and their children. All had lost their fathers to the machines.

But no more. John had ended the war.

She turned her attention back to the priest, who was finishing the eulogy. "Let us remember John Connor as a man who gave us a future to believe in. Now it's our turn to take part in that future."

Katherine smiled to herself, clapping along with everyone as the priest stepped down from his cement pedestal. Amen, Father. Amen.


End file.
